Action on Armed Violence analysis found that CEOs of the UK’s largest defence companies earned an average of £5.2 million in 2024, with executive pay rising by £1.53 million on average over the past decade and far outpacing both median UK earnings and wider FTSE 100 remuneration levels amid growing military spending.

A decade of Ministry of Defence transparency data reveals growing ties between senior officials and the defence industry, rising overseas spending and persistent gaps in disclosure that continue to obscure how public money, influence and national security decisions intersect.

Here AOAV finds that UK media outlets frequently present retired senior military figures as independent defence experts without disclosing their commercial ties to defence, security, intelligence, and technology industries, potentially obscuring conflicts of interest in public debates over war and military spending.

A former senior British Army officer responsible for personnel welfare has been sentenced for stalking his ex-partner, exposing deeper cultural failures in the military’s treatment of women.

The UK’s defence spending under the Conservative government shows significant regional and political bias, often towards their own constituencies, with Labour pledging to address these disparities.

A list of key open-source tools, export databases, legal frameworks, and forensic platforms to assist investigations into global arms transfers and their use in conflict zones.